


a little confused, and more than a little frightened

by elliot_cant_write



Category: Ghost Quartet - Malloy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, have you all watched ghost adventures, i have no idea how to tag these people of my god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27306214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliot_cant_write/pseuds/elliot_cant_write
Summary: OFF CAMERA: How do you feel about the ghost thing? Do you believe in them?DAVID: Uh, I guess. I’d never really thought about it too much before I met Rose.OFF CAMERA: What are you hoping to get out of this?DAVID: [shrugs] I figured it would be fun, you know? I know Rose really wants to find something so of course I’m hoping we do, but I think we’ll have fun regardless[Cuts back to original setup with Rose]ROSE: If we don’t find something then I think I will literally die.AKAFor their midterm project, the TV production team at McKittrick University decides to team up with Rose Red, a photography student whose life long goal is to take a picture of a ghost, and David the Golf Cart Driver, who doesn't really care that much but is here anyway because he's her only friend.
Relationships: The Photographer/The Driver
Kudos: 5





	a little confused, and more than a little frightened

**Author's Note:**

> Before we get into it, there's a few names I have to explain.  
> Rose Red: the photographer  
> David: the driver  
> Scheherazade: Scheherazade  
> Eddy: the fool. I don't think he had a name, so I just assumed he had the same as his father.  
> Roxie: Roxie Usher  
> Sar: the solider. the original name of soldier and rose was sarajevo rose so i just named her off of that.  
> Starchild: starchild! i let her keep her name bc it's cute

[Shot of an office-looking room, a young woman with long red hair sitting in a chair and looking at something off-camera. At the bottom of the screen, the name ROSE RED, followed by the title PHOTOGRAPHER and @THESAMEASEVERYONEELSE]

ROSE RED: So I just talk at the camera?

SOMEONE OFF SCREEN: Yeah, just say who you are and what you’re doing here.

ROSE RED: Okay. [she repositions herself in her chair so she’s sitting up straighter] Hi, I’m Rose Red, I’m a photographer, and ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of taking a photo of a ghost. 

[Image of some of Rose’s photography appears on screen as she talks. Most of it has a fairly scholarly aesthetic: a lot of shots from around campus, between stacks of books in the library, looking up the bell tower. There’s a few from around Seattle, mostly in fall]

ROSE RED: I’m not sure why it was always such a big thing for me, but it was actually the reason why I got into photography in the first place. I lived in a really old house when I was young, and there were always weird things going on. People would hear footsteps when nobody was there, lights would turn off and on, all of that. I guess I just wanted to have proof that everything that was happening was real.

[Cut to another scene in the same room, but this time with a man with a messy beard and glasses in place of Rose. He looks a bit nervous. The name DAVID appeared on the bottom of the screen, with @INTHEABSTRACT underneath it. He, apparently, does not get a title]

DAVID: Uh, I’m David, I drive a golf cart on campus, and I’m mostly here because Rose and I are friends?

OFF CAMERA: How did you and Rose meet?”

DAVID: The room she went to to work on her photos was on the far side of campus, so she’d catch a ride with me a lot. We got to know one another due to that.

OFF CAMERA: How do you feel about the ghost thing? Do you believe in them?

DAVID: Uh, I guess. I’d never really thought about it too much before I met Rose.

OFF CAMERA: What are you hoping to get out of this?

DAVID: [shrugs] I figured it would be fun, you know? I know Rose really wants to find something so of course I’m hoping we do, but I think we’ll have fun regardless

[Cuts back to original setup with Rose]

ROSE: If we don’t find something then I think I will literally die.

[Scene cuts away to a dark screen with ‘A Photo of a Ghost’ written across it in large letters, written in the typical ‘spooky’ font. Underneath that, it says ‘Coming October 28th]




[Twitter]

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

Hey everyone! Here’s the teaser for this year's Halloween project! This year we’ll be working alongside @thesameaseveryoneelse and @intheabstract. First part of the four part series out on Monday the 28th!

[Link to where trailer is uploaded on YouTube]

Responses:

**Beatrice Allen** @honeybea

YAY! So excited! Proud of you guys! #mualum

**Carolyn Williams** @tmwrptrio

Wow ghost hunting. Real mature. Sad to see what tv production has become.

**Mike Sheldon** @localemo

sorry you lost your capability for fun get better soon!!! xo

**Carolyn Williams** @tmwrptrio

Again, real mature

**Aidan Wood** @swmrlife

Glad we’re giving the bane of the photography department a tv show so she can annoy the rest of campus too




[Three weeks earlier]

Rose pulled her jacket tighter around her body, wincing as she accidentally jabbed herself in the chest with her camera. “C’mon, David,” She muttered under her breath, knowing it would be lost in the wind before anyone could hear her talking to herself. “I’m going to be la-a-a-te.”

Sure enough, just a few seconds later a golf cart came driving down campus avenue, driven by a familiar figure. It slowed to a stop in front of her, and she hopped on, camera again slamming against her now definetly bruised chest. “Good morning. How are you today?”

“Freezing,” David answered, turning the golf cart around and starting towards the photography building. “And I lost my gloves.”

“Aw,” Rose looked down at her own gloved hands. “I’d give you mine, but I think that my hands are a bit too small.”

David glanced down for a second at her hands before turning his eyes back to the road. “I’d say so, yeah.” He took a turn down one of the backlanes into the art part of campus. “Have you figured out what you’re doing for your final project yet?”

“That’s actually what I’m going to meet with some people about,” Rose leaned forward a bit, looking around. “Go down the left side instead. I’m going to the TV production studio instead of the photography rooms.”

David raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask for further explanation as he turned down the left lane. “Cool.”

They sat in comfortable silence until David parked the golf. “Good luck with your meeting.” He said as Rose climbed out of the cart.

She did her best smile back, not quite able to get her mouth to move the way she wanted after being out in the cold for so long. “Good luck finding your gloves.” And then she was gone through the door into the arts building.

David sat for a few seconds, before sighing and going off back to picking up random students.




[TV PRODUCTION MIDTERM PROJECT GROUP CHAT]

Scheherazade: 

Sorry I had to miss the interview. How did it go?

Starchild:

it went really well! i think this would be good for a halloween-y project

Sar: 

i still think she’s completely out of her mind but it’s a good project, yeah

Scheherazade: 

Great! I’ll be back on campus this afternoon, so I can look over the notes from the meeting and then when we meet again on Tuesday, we can make a final decision.

Roxie: 

Scheherazade, can you send me the notes too? 

Scheherazade: 

Yeah, I can.

Eddy: 

Not to be getting ahead of things, but I did have one concern. 

Roxie: 

I thought you were sleeping!!

Sar:

lol call out

Roxie:

I turned off my music for you

Eddy: 

Your notifications woke me up

Scheherazade: 

What was your concern?

Eddy:

I feel like it’s awkward for it to be just her, you know? Like, she needs someone to talk to when she’s looking for ghosts. 

Starchild: 

^^ oh my gOSH a ghost hunting team!

Scheherazade:

That’s definitely something we should discuss next meeting. Do you know if she has any friends?

Sar:

fiebgovuevbevbenieronr 

Scheherazade:

I didn’t mean it like that! 

Sar:

then what did you mean it like?

Scheherazade:

Do we currently know of any people that she would be comfortable working with?

Eddy:

No. But we can ask if we decide to go through with this.

Scheherazade:

Does anybody else have major concerns right now?

Roxie: 

I don’t

Starchild: 

nope!

Eddy:

No

Sar:

n/a

Scheherazade:

Wonderful. Roxie, I’ll be sure to send you the notes. See you all Tuesday!




[Email to Rose Red from the McKittrick University TV Production Team]

Subject: Midterm Project

Hi, Rose! 

I was sorry I didn’t get to meet with you last week, but i’ve spoken with the other team members, and we’re extremely interested in working with you to complete a Halloween-themed midterm project. Before we get started, we have a few questions we hope you can answer.

  1. When would you be able to film? We hope to have this done by Halloween, so if you were free this week, we would like to begin as soon as possible. 
  2. I know you already talked a bit about a nearby place that would be good to investigate. Can you please send any additional information you have so we can begin looking into filing the appropriate paperwork?
  3. We were discussing this project during our last meeting, and we thought perhaps it would be beneficial for you to have a partner to work with in your investigation. How do you feel about this? And is there a specific person you would like to work with?



Please get back to me as soon as you can and, again, I’m very excited to get to work with you!

Thanks,

Scheherazade

President of the McKittrick University TV Production Team




The email from Scheherazade has scared Rose a little bit, she was willing to admit. Rose knew she unsettled a lot of people, and as a result she was quite lacking in the friend department. The only person she could even begin to think of to work with was David, and she didn’t even know his phone number.

So once again, there she was, waiting for him to come by in his little golf cart to drive her to the photography building. Once again, it was absolutely freezing out. 

David eventually pulled up. “Hey.”

“Hey,” She climbed on. “I’m heading to the photography building. Also, can we talk about something?”

He nodded.

“Okay.” Rose sat in silence for a second trying to think over what she wanted to say. She could see that David kept glancing over at her. “You know the thing I’m doing with the TV production team?” He nodded. “They’re asking if there’s someone who can join me on it, and, um, I was hoping that you would be willing to join me?” 

A few more seconds of silence. “Okay.”

Rose felt her lips start to curve upwards, even though she tried not to let her excitement show. “Really?”

He nodded. “It could be fun.”

“Okay,” Rose was sure she was fully smiling now. “Okay. I’ll email Scheherazade back and tell her. Oh, and I can send you the same information I am sending her.”

David nodded. “Sounds good.”

The golf-cart pulled up outside the photography building, and Rose was about to leave when she remembered. “Oh!” She said suddenly. “I don’t have your number!”

“Here,” David dug around in his backpack before pulling out a marker. “Do you have any paper? I don’t think I do…”

“Me neither,” Rose said. She pulled her sleeve up. “Here, just write it on my arms.”

David carefully took her arm, writing out each number. “Here,” He said, recapping his pen. “See you in a bit.”

“Bye.” Rose waited until he had left before looking at her arm, where David’s number was written in pretty, green ink.




[Email to McKittrick TV Production Team from Rose Red]

Hi Scheherazade, 

Thank you so much for the email. Here’s the answer to your questions.

  1. This week works for me. I have a fairly flexible schedule so whatever times work for you will likely work for me as well.
  2. I have a few documents containing information about the location. I’ll attach them at the bottom of this email.
  3. I’ve talked to my friend David and he said that he would be willing to work on the project with me. If you would like, I can send you his contact information. 



Again, thank you so much for emailing me! I’m excited to get to work with you too.

-Rose Red

[Attachment of file]




[Text conversation between Rose Red and David]

Rose:

Hi david, it’s rose

Rose:

I told Scheherazade that you agreed to work with us ill text you when they send me more information

Rose:

also thank you so much again for agreeing. I know it’s kind of weird, but it means a lot to me that you’re willing to help




[TV PRODUCTION MIDTERM PROJECT GROUP CHAT]

11:00pm

Sar:

road trip tomorrow bitches

Eddy:

Can you please type normal in the gc for once in your life

Sar:

i cannot

Starchild:

make sure you all get a goodnight sleep! remember we’re leaving really early tomorrow!

Scheherazade:

^ Everyone needs to be at the bell tower by 7am with all their equipment. We can grab breakfast on the way out, so don’t worry about that. I look forward to seeing you all bright and early!

Sar: 

gross

Roxie:

And Eddy better go to sleep so he doesn’t crash the van and kill all of us tomorrow because I WILL be telling

Eddy:

Ffs

6:45am

Scheherazade:

Eddy where are you?

Eddy: 

filling up gas I'll be there in five

Sar: 

i resent having to get up this early

Starchild:

i’ll bring you coffee if you want :)

Sar:

babe

Sar:

BABE

Sar:

I WOULD DIE FOR YOU

Starchild:

:) 

Starchild:

anyone else want anything?

Roxie:

Can you get me a hot chocolate?

Starchild:

of course! i’ll grab a coffee for Eddy as well

Roxie:

Thanks from both of us

Scheherazade:

Five minutes gays

Scheherazade:

***guys

Sar:

ebhuvbheohhbve




[A random Waffle House, twenty minutes away from campus]

Scheherazade spread some papers across the table that all of the TV production crew + Rose and David sat around. “Okay. Sar and I have been doing research and it seems like the right thing to do when we get there is interview some of the people working in the hotel, which we can then overlay with the research on it that Rose has already compiled for us. That will be most of that the first episode will cover, I think. Then we’ll move into the actual investigation.”

A woman with a little notepad stopped at their table, not looking particularly thrilled to see them all, but forcing a smile anyway. Her name tag read ‘Gelsey’. “Hi, welcome to Waffle House. Can I take your orders?”

“Chocolate chip pancakes and apple juice.” (Starchild)

“Scrambled eggs and toast with tea.” (Scheherazade)

“Strawberry waffle and coffee” (Sar, which prompted Scheherazade to give her a look, knowing she had already drunk about three cups that morning.)

“Ham and cheese omelet, grape juice.” (Eddy)

“Pancake and rootbeer.” (Roxie)

“Waffle and coffee.” (Rose)

“Cheese omelet and apple juice.” (David)

Gelsey rattled off their orders back to them. Once confirmed, she slid her notepad back into her pocket. “I’ll have your drinks in a minute.”

“I was thinking it would make sense to break it up by areas of the hotel.” Eddy suggested once the waitress left. “There were a few different areas and stories, right?” The last part was directed at Rose.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Rose said, fiddling with her napkin. “We could split the episodes by story too because most of them occur in different places.”

“That’s a good idea.” Eddy said. He was taking the packets of sugar out of their container and reorganizing them by colour. “We could do the first part talking to the employees and filling the viewer in on the history of the hotel. Then maybe one that’s just like generally going around the hotel? Like the more general areas that don’t have a specific story to go with them. Then the rest of them can be covering the places that do have specific stories. How many are there?”

“Three.”

He nodded. “Five episodes doesn’t seem bad.”

“Maybe we should wait and see how much actual footage we get, particularly from what you’re proposing for the second episode. If nothing much happens, we could stick it onto the end of the first.” Starchild suggested. 

Scheherazade nodded as they got their drinks. “I think this is a good rough plan so far. I’ve already been in contact with the manager of the hotel and we’ll be meeting one of the employees when we get there, so we can talk to her about what she knows, and then maybe ask around. Then we can move on to look at the places - if any - that they mention, before moving on to Rose’s places.”

“Do you know when we want to start filming?” Eddy asked, taking a long sip of his grape juice. “Because I want to sleep before all this.”

“I was thinking this evening. Then we’ll be able to go right into filming once it gets dark.”

“Cool.” Eddy gave Roxie a look as she scrunched her nose up. “What?”

“Your grape juice addiction disgusts me.”

“Your rootbeer disgusts me.”

“Children,” Scheherazade said long-sufferingly. “Please.”

“How do you want us to communicate the information about the hotel?” Rose asked, moving the conversation away from beverage debates. “Like, the history and stuff?”

“Ooh, I was talking about this with Sar earlier!” Starchild piped up from where she had been folding napkins into animals. “I was thinking we could do voice over later? You know how all the ghost hunting shows have dramatic black and white shots of the location? We could get some of those and then overlay Rose’s voice over later.”

“Oh, I like that!” Roxie stopped annoying Eddy to contribute. “We can do like the dumb filters on it too. Be a stereotype.”

Sar snorted. “Love that for us.”

Roxie waved her off. “Hey, we’re trying to mimic all the typical ghost hunting shows; we’re lucky they’re all pretty much the same.”

“I feel like we’ve got a pretty good grasp on things then,” Scheherazade said, gathering up her papers and putting them back in her bag. “So, David, you’re the golf cart guy?”

David looked startled to finally be addressed. “Uh, yeah. The golf cart guy.”

She leaned forward, looking much more interested than anyone at the table thought necessary. “How does that work? I always thought it seemed fun to do, but I was always busy, and besides, I was never sure how to sign up.”

“Well, you know,” David shrugged. “I see people walking and I offer to drive them wherever they’re going. And I drive Rose around a lot because she’s always going back and forth between her dorm and the photography building.”

“I see.” Scheherazade hadn’t seemed to lose any interest in what he was saying. “And is that how the two of you met? Through the golf cart thing?”

David looked like he was about to answer, but then Sar cut him off. “For fucks sake,” She rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Scheherazade doesn’t know how to talk like a real person. She’s done too many fucking documentary interveiws. I think what she’s trying to do is get to know you both.”

Scheherazade gave Sar a dirty look, a pink tinge appearing on her face. “Yes, sorry. We all know one another really well and I don’t want the two of you to get left behind.”

Rose laughed a little awkwardly, trying to dispel some of the tension between the two parties. “Yeah, we met because I need a ride a lot. And it’s a long drive across campus, so we ended up spending a lot of time together.”

“Wait,” Sar looked rapidly between the two of them. “Are you guys dating?”

Rose and David both turned bright red, trying to stutter out protests as Scheherazade death-glared at Sar.

“Well this is off to a great start.” Eddy whispered to Starchild, drinking the end of his grape juice. 

She smiled widely, whispering back, “Well, it wouldn’t be fun without a little chaos.”




[A black and white shot of a tall hotel, while spooky music plays in the background. Text slowly fades into view, reading ‘A Photo of A Ghost: Episode One’. Scene changes to a tired looking woman standing in what appears to be a hotel lobby. It’s not super brightly coloured, and neither is she. At the bottom of the screen, she is labeled as PEARL WHITE and HOTEL WORKER]

PEARL WHITE: I’ve worked at the Bushwick Starr for years, so I’ve heard a lot of stories. Visitors will complain that their rooms keep getting messed up, that they heard noise coming from empty rooms, you know, that sort of stuff. 

SAR [OFF CAMERA]: Mostly typical haunted hotel things then?

PEARL WHITE: *brushes her hair out of where it had fallen into her face, but it falls right back, making her expression hard to make out* Well, yes. But other stuff too.

[Scene switches back to black and white images of the hotel and areas inside, as Rose’s voice over plays]

ROSE RED, VOICEOVER: The Bushwick Starr Hotel was built in the 1920s. Since then, it has developed a reputation as one of the most haunted buildings in the country, and certainly the most haunted building in New York. 

[An image of the hotel from the outside. It strikes an imposing figure, even for those lacking knowledge of its history, with its impressive height and vaguely baroque style.]

ROSE RED, VOICEOVER: In its over a hundred years of being open, the hotel has undergone its fair share of tragic and mysterious events. Most notable is the New Years Eve Massacre of 1967, an event that any true crime fan worth their salt will be intimately familiar with. Neil Borhe himself is said to haunt the ballroom, where he killed himself at a New Years party after killing his entire family upstairs.

[Scene switches to a tired looking man whose age is difficult to place due to the heavy bags under his eyes and the lost-in-time look that all of the hotel’s occupants seem to have. He is identified on screen as MR. USHER and HOTEL MANAGER]

USHER, HIS TONE EXHAUSTED AS IF HE’S HAD TO EXPLAIN THIS A MILLION TIMES BEFORE: The Borhe incident was a tragedy, and unfortunately some people have elected to try to turn it into something it is not by misleading referring to it as a ‘massacre’ and giving it a catchy title. Out of respect for those involved, we as a hotel wish to avoid discussion of it and any sort of absurd speculation about related supernatural activity.

ROSE RED, VOICEOVER: Clearly, not a topic that the hotel wants focused on.




“This is the ballroom.” Pearl said, opening a grand set of double doors to let Rose, David, Scheherazade, and Eddy into an even grander room. Eddy panned the camera around, taking in the wall-to-ceiling windows and gleaming chandeliers. “It is not used as frequently these days, but we still host the occasional event.

Rose inhaled deeply, even though the musty-dusty small made her want to cough. She lifted her own camera up from where it was around her neck and took a few pictures. The click of the shutters echoed around the room. “It’s the mirror, right?” She muttered, adjusting the focus to get a better shot of the chandeliers. “Where the ghost is said to appear?”

Scheherazade turned the other camera to face Pearl as Eddy focused on the giant mirror along the inner wall. Pearl was quiet at first, but eventually she answered. “Yes, that’s it. When you look in the mirror, he’s behind you, but when you turn around, you’re alone.”




ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: However, the New Years Eve Massacre is not the only notable event that occurred at the Bushwick Starr. Around the 1920s, a young woman named May Clue was tragically killed after falling down the flight of stairs between the second and third floors. Her ghost is reportedly seen both on the stairs and the second floor room in which she was brought to before she passed. 




“This shot is a fucking nightmare.” Eddy muttered under his breath, trying to get a good angle on the stairs. “If I fall backwards down the stairs, I’ll come haunt you so you can all get an A.”

Scheherazade shushed him, although it absolutely did not escape his notice that her lips almost turned up into a smile. “The room is on the second floor, right?” 

Rose nodded, taking her own picture of the staircase. “If you’ve gotten your shot, I’m ready to go down?”

Eddy gave her a thumbs up and their small group travelled downstairs, Scheherazade still filming slightly behind. 

“This is the bedroom that May Clue died in.” Pearl said quietly, unlocking and opening the door to room 27. The door swung open and Eddy, Scheherazade, and Rose all leaned forward to look inside.

The room looked remarkably ordinarily, the blue comforter on the perfectly smooth and pale white curtains pulled down over the windows. A vase of - likely fake - flowers set on a dresser next to a stack of clean towels. 

“Sometimes people see her in the bathroom mirror,” Pearl explained as the three students filmed and took pictures. “And sometimes they’ll be on the bed and feel like someone laid down next to them. There will even be the indent of a body.”

Scheherazade and Eddy exchanged a look as Eddy filmed a shot of the bed. “Is that all?” Scheherazade asked pleasantly. When Pearl nodded, they went back into the hallway, Eddy taking one last shot of the door closing behind them, being sure to focus on the big silver 27 above the door-viewer. 




[Scene goes back to Pearl in the lobby]

PEARL WHITE: One story that comes up a lot is about talking to a woman and then having her just vanish. And then the visitor will try to find her and nobody will have ever heard of her. And sometimes rooms will get cleaned before the maids can come around. It’s nothing particularly threatening, but it still unnerves people. 

SAR [OFF CAMERA]: Have you ever seen anything? 

PEARL WHITE: *shrugs*

[There are a few seconds of silence while Sar waits to see if Pearl will answer.]

PEARL WHITE: *sighs* It’s hard to say, sometimes I see things, but who can truly know?

SAR, QUIETLY: Fair enough.

[A few scenes panning up and down the hallway and into various rooms.]

ROSE RED: There is a legend of a maid who vanished and now haunts the hotel, but no record of a missing maid nor clue to her identity has ever been found. Yet interestingly, this is the story that is most often reported by both patrons and staff. These experiences occur on all floors of the hotel, so hopefully we will get to encounter the maid at some point during the night.

[The scene cuts to a black and white shot of the outside of the hotel, starting at the ground level and panning up and up and up until it reaches the roof.]

ROSE RED: The Bushwick Starr has a long and dark history, leading to its current infamy. We can only hope that the remains of this history might be willing to appear to us in our investigation tonight, as they have to so many before us.

[Screen fades to black with the the words A PHOTO OF A GHOST: PRODUCED BY THE MCKITTRICK UNIVERSITY TV PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT scrawled in white across it]




[Twitter]

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

Hello everyone and happy spooky season! We are so excited for you all to see the first episode of our Halloween project, A Photo of A Ghost, which we are working on in collaboration with @thesameasanyoneelse and @intheabstract. An episode will drop each day leading up to Halloween!

Responses:

**Beatrice Alle** n @honeybea

Wow! This looks so cool. I can’t wait for the next episode

**Samantha Reno** @spookysam

I can’t believe our group never had this idea

**Mike Sheldon** @localemo

the way the manager is like ‘i dont know what a ghost is rip to you all but im different’

**Henry Johnson** @hnry

That building is so cool. My uncle used to work there and he said it’s wild

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

He’s certainly right about that :)




Eddy all but dropped their camera equipment on the bed in the room that they were using as their HQ. “Jesus fucking Christ.” He fell backwards to land next to it. “Is the manager exacting revenge on us for ruining the reputation of his hotel by making us walk up every single flight of stairs? I would have rather him just have said no when we asked to film here.” He sat up enough to glare at Sar. “You could have helped a bit more.”

She lifted up her right hand, which was otherwise occupied by holding hands with Starchild. “Can’t. Busy.” 

The rest of the group made it up the stairs with the end of their equipment and luggage, seeming equally worn out. That is, with the exception of Scheherazade who was clearly superhuman and hadn’t even broken a sweat despite carrying more than everyone else.

“I can’t believe the elevator was broken.” Roxie poked her brother’s shoulder until he got off the bed so she could set her bags down. “We’re not going to be having to go up and down the stairs all night, are we?”

“I think it would make sense to start from the ground floor and work up. Thanks.” Rose said, the last part being directed to David who had taken her bag of camera equipment and set it down for her. “We can start with the ballroom, since it’s the only one concentrated in one place. Then the stairs and bedroom, then a few areas for the maid throughout the hotel.”

“How do we want to divide it up?” Sar asked. “Rose, you and David are probably going to be on duty all night, so good luck with that I guess. But for the rest of us, partner up? Someone will have to double up, but we can have a pair for each location.”

“That could work…” Scheherazade said thoughtfully. “But I feel like if we want to be thorough, we should have someone in each location filming all night.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Scheherazade -”

“Wait!” Everyone abruptly looked at Starchild, who immediately turned pink. “Sorry, I just - I had an idea!” She went to one of the bags that had been put down alongside the bed and pulled out a tripod, and then another, and then another. “We’ve got three, see? We can set up one in each area! It won’t cover everything, but neither would us just hanging up there waiting for something to happen!”

Scheherazade looked like she still wasn’t convinced that that was enough, until David added, “Isn’t that how it’s normally done on TV? Like security footage.”

“Is that correct?” Scheherazade asked Rose, who nodded. She sighed. “I guess that’s good enough. Starchild, since it’s your idea, do you, Roxie, and Eddy want to go set up? Sar and I can plan everything else out with Rose and David then.”

Starchild agreed, and she, Eddy, and Roxie grabbed the tripod bag and left to go set things up. 

“Okay.” Scheherazade picked up a notebook, where she had on the drive over taken extensive notes while Rose had explained her own knowledge of the hotel. She flipped to a new page. “Rose, you said you wanted to start in the ballroom? Then which, the stairs?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, and then since the maid is sort of everywhere, we can do that one with whatever time we have left. Is that okay with you?”

The last part was to David, who looked surprised to be addressed at all. “Uh, sure.” He glanced over at Scheherazade, who was writing very intensely in her notebook. “That makes sense.”

“We should ask Pearl if she can give us any particularly active room numbers.” Sar suggested. 

“That’s good…” Scheherazade finished her notes. “So, ballroom, stairs, and then general hotel. Sar, do you and Starchild want to take the ballroom? Then I’ll do both the second two, one with Roxie and one with Eddy.”

“We can do the stairs if you want. The ballroom would probably be easier for Roxie, since this is her first big project.”

“No, I think she’ll be fine on the stairs. Thanks, though.” Scheherazade took a picture of the notebook page where she had written out the schedule and quickly sent it into their group chat. “Sunset is at around 7, so let’s all meet then. Those of us not filming can hang out up here and watch the stream from Starchild’s tripods so we won’t have to go through it all later. Everyone okay with that?” They all nodded. “Great. See you in an hour.”




[A black and white image of the ballroom of the Bushwick Starr hotel fills the screen as the sound of footsteps and dramatic music plays. White texts reading “A Photo of a Ghost: Episode 2” appears.]

ROSE RED, VOICEOVER: The first area of the hotel that we will be investigating is the Bushwick Starr ballroom, the site of Neil Borhe’s death in 1967. Despite the infamy of the room both in the true crime community and in the supernatural world, this was the story that the hotel seemed to downplay the most.

[Cuts to the the interview with the hotel manager from the former episode]

  1. USHER: We as a hotel wish to avoid discussion of it and any sort of absurd speculation about related supernatural activity.



ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: I imagine Mr. Usher is hoping we will be proving the speculation wrong, but I hope we have a bit more luck.

[Scene changes to video from within the ballroom. Rose stands next to David with her camera hanging around her neck. David has a flashlight, but it keeps flickering out.]

STARCHILD, OFF CAMERA: Are we sure we put the new batteries in?

SAR, ALSO OFF CAMERA: I watched Eddy switch them out like ten minutes ago.

[David shook the flashlight a few times and eventually it stopped flickering.]

DAVID: I guess it’s fine now?

STARCHILD, OFF CAMERA: If it stops again, you can borrow my phone.

DAVID: Thanks.

SAR, OFF CAMERA: Ready to start, Rose?

[Rose nods and then the video switches over to the other camera, which is filming the mirrored wall so that you can still see Rose and David but also the rest of the room.]

ROSE RED: So I guess almost every time anyone reports seeing anything it’s always in that mirror. It will look like there’s an extra person in the room with you but when you turn around he’s gone. 

DAVID: That’s creepy.

[Switches back to the normal view. Rose fiddles with the straps on her camera, smiling at David.]

ROSE RED: I’m really glad you’re helping me with this.

DAVID, WHO IS DEFINITELY BLUSHING: Oh, uh, I’m glad I can help.

SAR, OFF CAMERA AND SO QUIET YOU CAN HARDLY HEAR HER: Get a fucking room.

[Both David and Rose instantly stand up straighter and look much more focused.]

ROSE RED: I was thinking we could just sit in front of the mirror? And start talking?

DAVID: Do we really want to try to get a serial killer to come and talk to us? Is that safe?

ROSE RED, SHRUGS: He’s a ghost. What can he do?

DAVID: ...That’s reassuring.

[They go over closer to the mirror. The camera filming is Sar’s, which is pointed at the mirror so you’re seeing all of their reflections. Rose stares into the mirror for a few seconds, looking for something behind them.]

ROSE RED: Mr. Borhe? Sir? Are you here?

[Silence.]

ROSE RED: We’re sorry to bother you, but we have a few questions we would like to ask you? If that’s okay.

[More silence, except the sound of them all breathing. David looks around like he’s trying to find whatever Rose thinks she’s talking to.]

DAVID: Do we just, uh, start talking even if nobody answers?

ROSE RED: Yeah, I think so. Sometimes when ghosts speak we can’t hear them, but the camera will pick it up so we’ll hear it when we listen back to the recording. 

DAVID: Oh. That makes sense, I guess. Like how you can only see him in the mirror.

ROSE RED, SMILING: Yeah! Exactly! Uh, okay. Questions. [She goes back to being serious.] Mr. Borhe, I was hoping you could maybe tell us why you’ve stayed here? 

[They all wait for awhile but, again, nothing happens.]

ROSE RED: Do you want to give it a shot?

DAVID: Uh, okay. What kind of stuff do you ask?

ROSE RED: Anything you want.

[They all wait a few seconds as he thinks.]

DAVID: If you’re not Mr. Borhe, could you tell us who you are? Please?

[Rose nods in approval. The scene switches back to the other camera, the one not facing the mirror, and it pans around the room as they wait for something to happen in response to David’s question. Occasionally, a car drives past on the street outside and its headlights light up the room. But mostly everything is still, and nothing happens. It eventually switches back to the camera facing the mirror.]

ROSE RED: I was thinking-

[Suddenly there is a loud noise and all four of them jump. The camera jolts badly for a second before straightening back out. Both Rose and David are much more on edge now.]

DAVID, QUIETLY: What the fuck was that?

ROSE RED: I don’t know. Maybe a door slamming? I don’t think it came from in here. 

[Both of them are quiet for a little while longer, staring at the door leading to the rest of the hotel. But nothing else happens, and eventually David refocuses.]

DAVID: What were you saying? Before that?

ROSE RED, STILL SEEMING DISTRACTED: What? Oh, I was saying that [she drops her voice a bit here] maybe we should bring up his family? To see what happens?

DAVID, NERVOUS: Is that a good idea?

ROSE RED: I don’t see why not. It’s not like they’ve reported him being particularly violent.

DAVID: Okay. Do you want me to ask?

ROSE RED: Sure. Go for it.

DAVID: Okay…

[Camera switches to Starchild’s, which is following David.]

DAVID: What about your family? Are any of them here?

ROSE RED: Maybe Margaret? Or one of your daughters?

[All four of them wait for a moment. Rose is definitely holding her breath. But ultimately, again, nothing happens. Camera pans to Rose, who looks disappointed.]

ROSE RED: We should probably move on. I don’t think anything is going to happen.

DAVID, UNDOUBTEDLY TRYING TO CHEER HER UP: Maybe we’ll find something watching the video back. 

ROSE RED: Hopefully. And we should probably check to see if anyone else knows what that noise was.

[Scene switches back to footage from within the ballroom as Rose’s voice over resumes.]

ROSE RED, VOICEOVER: Unfortunately, we were unable to find anything when we watched back the footage of the Bushwick Starr ballroom. However, we never did find an explanation for the noise that we heard after David’s question. Perhaps it was a door or something falling, or perhaps it does have a more supernatural explanation. If it is the latter, I wonder if it was somebody trying to tell us that they were not actually Neil Borhe.

[Scene fades to end card, with the words A PHOTO OF A GHOST: PRODUCED BY THE MCKITTRICK UNIVERSITY TV PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT in white across a black background]




[Twitter]

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

Annnnd episode two is live! We hope you all enjoy this look at the ballroom of the Bushwick Starr hotel, which was made famous for the New Years Eve Massacre. Remember, we’ll be posting one episode per day up until halloween!

Responses:

**Eddy Usher** @thefoolishcellist

When I tell you that seeing the footage from when the door slammed and knowing that it

absolutely scared Sar was the best moment of my life

**Sar** @dontbelieveinanything

fuck off edgar i have blackmail material

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

Friendly reminder to please be respectful to one another.

**Sar** @dontbelieveinanything

LMAO




[TV PRODUCTION MIDTERM PROJECT GROUP CHAT + ROSE AND DAVID]

Sar: we’re done btw 

Roxie: how was it?

Sar: lmao

Starchild: it was good! we didn’t really get anything, but we’ll see 

Rose: David and I will be at the stairs in like five minutes

Scheherazade: *thumbs up emoji* See you then

Sar: okay have fun having to stay up late. starchild and i are going to watch netflix until we pass out

Eddy: Use protection 

Sar: no fucking comment

David: Eddy do you still have the batteries? My flashlight is dying.

Eddy: Ye no problem I’ll send them with Roxie




[A black and white image of the ballroom of the Bushwick Starr hotel fills the screen as the sound of footsteps and dramatic music plays. White texts reading “A Photo of a Ghost: Episode 3” appears.]

ROSE RED, VOICEOVER: The next area of the Bushwick Starr Hotel that we’ll be investigating is the staircase between the second and third floor, where May Clue fell to her death. We’ll also be investigating the bedroom on the second floor where she then died. 

[Camera shows some of the shots of the staircase that Eddy and Scheherazade had taken earlier.]

ROSE RED: On the stairs, people report hearing voices when nobody else is there, as well as hearing what sounds like someone walking down the stairs towards you, only for nobody to appear. Most of the more exciting activity happens in room 27 on the second floor..

[Scene switches to video from the bedroom.]

ROSE RED: People will see a woman - presumably May Clue - in the bathroom mirror. Additionally, people will report being awoken during the night by the sensation of someone laying down in the bed next to them. 




“Here’s the batteries!” Roxie said, dropping two of them into David’s hand. “Eddy said you were having issues with your flashlight?”

“Yeah, thanks.” David swapped the old ones out for Eddy’s, dropping the discarded batteries into his jacket pocket. “It keeps going out and we’re not sure why. Maybe the batteries were bad.”

“Maybe.” Rose echoed. “I’ve heard ghosts can drain technology.”

Roxie and Scheherazade exchanged a look. “Wouldn’t that have affected the cameras too? And your flashlight?”

Rose shrugged, not looking particularly discouraged. “Ghosts don’t have to be consistent, I don’t think. Maybe they just like David.”

David looked decidedly uncomfortable with that. 

“I imagine we won’t have to spend a ton of time here on the stairs.” Scheherazade said, fiddling with her camera. “Roxie, do you want to take the lead on filming?”

Roxie immediately straightened, equal parts excited and nervous. “Uh, sure! I mean, yeah, I’d love to. Uh, Rose, David, do you two want to sit on the landing there? Then I stand a few steps down to be at about eye level with you all. And Scheherazade, do you want to film looking down the stairs? Like, from the same one that I’m on but in the opposite direction? I know Pearl didn’t mention people seeing anything on the stairs, but at least we’ll have some good filler stuff, and if anything does happen we’ll get it.”

Everyone positioned themselves according to Roxie’s instructions, and she took a step back to look everything over. “ Yeah, I think that’s probably good. You all ready?”

Everyone nodded, so Roxie flipped off the lights before going back to her position on the stairs. Scheherazade began filming down the stairs and a few seconds later, Roxie began filming as well. 

“I think it would probably be best if we asked some questions here again.” Rose said, hugging her knees to her chest so that her legs wouldn’t accidentally brush against David’s. The stairs were much more cramped than they had seemed before. “People report hearing disembodied voices, so maybe we can get a response.”

“What’s a disembodied voice?” David asked.

“Oh, it’s a voice that doesn’t seem to come anywhere.” She explained. “Disem-bodied. It lacks a body. Oh, also make sure you’re listening for footsteps. Pearl said people hear those too.”

“Oh, okay.” David looked nervously behind them, as if looking for May Clue herself waiting over their shoulder to start making her way down the stairs. “Do you want to ask questions first?”

Rose nodded. “May Clue? If you’re here, we’d like to talk to you. Maybe ask you a few questions.” 

They waited until Rose decided that it had been long enough for anyone who wanted to to answer, and she continued. “If you’re not May, we’d be happy to talk to you as well, of course. If anyone else is here, could you tell us who you are?”

More waiting. Roxie and Scheherazade exchanged a look off camera. None of them had realised that ghost hunting apparently involved so much...nothing.

David glanced at Rose, who nodded encouragingly, before having his own go at asking questions. “We heard you like walking up and down the stairs, so could you maybe demonstrate that for us? That’s not too pushy, is it?” The final part was directed at Rose, and was so quiet that it was almost a whisper.

“No, I wouldn’t think so.” Rose whispered back. “It’s a good idea.”

The four of them waited to see if David’s request was fulfilled, with Roxie focusing her camera up the stairs behind Rose and David in case anything was going to happen that way. 

Much to the disappointment of everyone, although hardly surprising, nothing happened. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to do that right now,” Rose eventually said, keeping her tone very kind and warm. “But if it’s okay, we do have a few more questions that you can feel free to answer. Could you tell us why you’ve chosen to stay on the stairs? It’s a very big hotel, after all. And quite pretty.”

Somewhere on a floor above them, somebody flushed a toilet and a few seconds later a door slammed.

Rose sighed. “I wish we could have had it totally silent. I have no idea how we’re ever going to work out what that noise earlier was. There’s just too much-”

“Wait.” David interrupted, motioning for her to be quiet. “Listen.” 

There was the creek of a door opening somewhere on the floor above them, and then, just a few seconds later, the clear sound of footsteps.

“That could be it!” Rose said excitedly. “We can tell what that is, but someone who didn’t hear the door opening? They could think it was someone on the stairs.”

“Do you think we could test it out?” He asked, looking over at Scheherazade and Roxie. “Get someone else to go up there and walk around and see how it sounds?”

Scheherazade set her camera down and reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. “I’ll call Sar and Starchild and see if either of them can come down.”

The other three waited as she dialed Sar’s number and then for her to pick up. “Hey, Sar? Can you and Starchild test something out for us real quick? What? Okay, sorry, but it will only take a moment, I swear. Thanks. Can one of you go down to the second floor and just walk down the hallway? Thank you so much. Text me when you get there right before you start so we’ll know it's you. Okay, bye.” She hung up. “Sar is going to walk up and down the hallway in a minute.”

“That’s...so perfect.” Rose was practically vibrating with excitement, which, to all of them, was more than fair after frustratingly having so little going on. “I know it’s not the same as actually hearing something, but it’s good to rule out what isn’t paranormal too.”

Scheherazade’s phone buzzed. “That’s Sar. She’s going to come down from the other end of the hallway to our end, and then back.”

The four of them resumed their earlier focus, Rose leaning so far ahead that it almost looked like she was going to fall off the stair from listening too hard. 

After just a few seconds, they could hear the sound of footsteps above them, just like they had earlier. They got louder as Sar got closer, and David looked over at Rose. “That sounds like it could be in here.” He whispered, and she nodded. Eventually they heard the creak of the door opening above them, and then the footsteps rapidly descended down the stairs.

“Hey,” Sar appeared, sounding slightly out of breath. “Did it work?”

“Exceptionally well.” Rose scooted over, allowing Sar to pass. “Can you do the same down a floor?”

“Weren’t you supposed to walk back down the hallway too?” Scheherazade asked as Sar nearly stepped on Roxie. “I’m fairly certain that’s what you said you were doing.”

Sar waved her off. “I forgot, but it worked, so it’s fine. I’ll go twice on the first floor though since I need to get back to you guys.”

Just as quickly as she had shown up, Sar was through the door and out of the staircase. Just like before, they could hear her footsteps loud and clear, though they echoed around as if she was in the staircase with them. 

“That’s so creepy.” Roxie said quietly. “Literally if I hadn’t just seen her leave I would have thought she was walking around in here.”

“Old buildings are weird sometimes.” Rose whispered back as the footsteps got louder again as Sar walked back down the hall. “I lived in a really old house for awhile as a kid and there was this one spot in one of the bedrooms where if you stood against the wall everyone in the kitchen was able to hear anything you said. Weird acoustics certainly aren’t particularly unusual.”

“And we all know about the library on campus.” David added.

Roxie shuddered. “Right, I hate that place. I have no idea how people go there at night.”

Sar came back up the stairs before going back to her and Starchild’s room, swearing that if they called her again for anything she would not be picking up the phone. 

“I think we probably have enough for in here.” Rose said once she had left. “Do you want to go to the bedroom now?”

David nodded, and Roxie and Scheherazade switched off their cameras so that the entire group could relocate to Room 27.

“So we’ve got the bathroom and the bed.” Rose said, looking around the room as Roxie and Scheherazade began filming again. “Do you want to try the bathroom first? We can use the flashlights.”

David nodded, grabbing Rose’s flashlight as well as his own and following her over to the bathroom. Scheherazade gestured for Roxie to go in first. “You can film in there if you want. It’s sort of cramped, so I’ll stay back here.”

Roxie nodded and followed Rose and David in, David already setting up the two flashlights on the counter. 

“The flashlights are really sensitive.” Rose explained. “So someone who wants to communicate with us can turn the nob just a little bit and they’ll turn on and off. That way, we can use them for simple yes-no questions.” Then, to Roxie, are you ready for the lights to go out?” Roxie nodded, and she flipped them off so that they’d be able to better see the flashlights turning on and off. Rose waited a few seconds for everyone to get adjusted before speaking again. “Is anyone here with us? I’m Rose, and this is my friend David. We were hoping you’d be willing to answer a few questions for us.”

She turned to David, nudging him when he didn’t say anything. “Oh, right, sorry. We have these two flashlights here that we can use for you to answer questions. Turn this one on to say ‘yes,’” David lightly touched the top of Rose’s flashlight, the one on the left. “And this on is ‘no.’” He touched his, the one on the right. “They’re really easy to turn on, see?” The light switched on, and he left it for a few seconds before turning it back off. “Can you please turn the yes flashlight on?”

Roxie held back a sigh. Apparently they were back to the endless waiting. Neither Rose nor David seemed particularly discouraged by this, however. Though, to be fair, she wasn’t convinced that David really had any idea what was supposed to be happening to begin with.

After a few seconds, Rose asked another question. “Are you May Clue?” Again, no answer. “Are you someone else from the hotel?” Nothing happened, so Rose started to ask something else. “Do-”

The left flashlight turned on.

They all stared at it. “Holy shit.” David whispered. “That’s on, right?”

“Yeah…” Rose said, eyes wide. “Uh, thank you! Can you please turn the flashlight back off?”

After a moment, it turned back off. 

“That had to be a coincidence, right?” He said, still not looking away from the flashlights as if they might suddenly roll off of the counter or go flying into the air. “They were acting oddly earlier.”

“Yours was acting oddly.” Rose corrected. “Mine wasn’t. Do you want to ask another question?”

“Are you the maid that people talk about?”

Rose’s flashlight turned on.

David jumped slightly. “Oh. Okay. Maybe not a coincidence. Can you turn that back off?”

They waited for a while, and when nothing happened, Rose tried again. “Can you please turn the flashlight back off?” 

The light stayed on, and David lightly touched Rose’s arm. “I don’t think anything’s going to happen.”

“Let’s give it a moment.” She said, but she looked disappointed and it was clear that she wasn’t expecting much. Still, they gave it another minute before David reached over and turned it off himself.

“Hey, we still got some excitement.” He said, trying to cheer her up. “Do you want to move into the main room now?”

“Yeah, okay.” 

They did as David suggested and rejoined Scheherazade in the main part of the room.

“I’m not sure if we should try the flashlights again or not.” Rose said thoughtfully, looking around the room. “We got a bit of a response in the bathroom, but we didn’t experience the claim that Pearl had told us about, so maybe we should focus on that in here instead.”

“It’s the bed, right?”

Rose nodded, and they both stared at it for a moment. It wasn’t a super large bed, and it looked sort of ancient, with its metal frame and comforter with a subtle blue flowered pattern. And it was neat - totally unwrinkled.

“You’d think that if it was something about the mattress that made it feel like someone was there with you, we’d be able to see a dip in it now.” Rose said, running her hand over the blanket on one side. “I mean, I feel like it would at least be lumpy or something.”

“Maybe it only happens if there’s a weight on it?” David suggested. “I don’t really know how like, mattress physics or whatever works, but it could just make it look like there’s another dip when in reality it’s all just from your weight.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” She said. She glanced over at David. “Uh, I guess we should test that then?”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them moved at first, but then Rose laid down on top of the bed, and a few seconds later David followed, laying back next to Rose.

The small side of the bed meant that there was hardly even a centimeter of space between them, and Rose pulled her arms to her chest to make sure her hands didn’t brush against his. “Hi.” She whispered, looking over and blushing hard when she realised how close his face was to hers. David’s eyes were very blue.

“Hi,” He said back, just as red. “Anything happening?”

Rose shook her head, a bit of her hair falling onto David’s face. He carefully brushed it away, tucking it behind her ear.

Scheherazade cleared her throat, and David immediately dropped his hand. “I hate to interrupt, but wouldn’t it make more sense for just one of you to test it out?” She had her notebook out, looking at the notes she had taken while Pearl showed them around. “It says it happens when someone is alone. Besides, there’s no space like this.”

“Oh, right.” David immediately got up, looking sort of like he wished that he could disappear into thin air. “Rose, do you want to go ahead and do it?”

Rose repositioned herself, letting her eyes slide shut. “Okay.”

The room was quiet except for the four of them softly breathing, Rose’s own evening out as she forced herself to relax, and the low buzz of the air conditioning. She moved around a bit, trying to look like she was asleep. The mattress didn’t seem to move though. She gave it a few minutes, but eventually sat up. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to explain this one. The mattress is too stiff; I can’t imagine it doing that just on its own.” 

“We’ll have the camera set up in here overnight at least.” David said as Rose got back off the bed. “In case anything happens.”

“Yeah…” Rose chewed on her lip, thinking. “Maybe one of us could sleep in here? See if anything happens?”

“I’ll send a text into the group chat and see if anyone wants to.” Scheherazade said. “Anything else you want to do in here?”

Rose and David exchanged a look. “I don’t think so. We’ve sort of covered all our bases.”

“Coolio.” Roxie switched off her camera and Scheherazade followed. “I’ll run up and tell Eddy it’s his turn. Good luck.”




[Footage of the hotel room at night.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: We had someone spend the night in room 27, but unfortunately, nothing happened. We were, however, unable to find any explanation for why someone might feel that someone was laying next to them when nobody was there. We also talked to the manager, and learned that all the rooms in the hotel have the same type of bed, but room 27 is the only one that they’ve ever heard of having this issue. So if there is a natural reason for this occurrence, it likely has nothing to do with the bed itself. 

[Screen goes black.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: We did find something interesting while going over the footage from the stairs though.

[Camera turns on. Sar, Eddy, and Roxie are in what appears to be a computer lab. Roxie has the camera, and she sits it on top of a computer where you can see all three of them.]

ROXIE: So we’re going through mine and Scheherazade’s footage from the staircase and Eddy found something weird in the audio while Rose and David were asking questions. We’ll insert the clip here.

[Clip from Scheherazade’s camera, looking down the stairs. Behind her, you can hear Rose’s slightly muffled voice ask ‘If anyone else is here, could you tell us who you are?’ Then, a few seconds later there is a noise that sort of sounds like someone mumbling, even more muffled than Rose’s voice, but clearly not her or any of the others.]

[Switches back to the computer lab.]

SAR: We think it sounds like it might be a woman’s voice, but we’re not sure what it’s saying. We’re going to send it to everyone else, so maybe they’ll be able to come up with something.

EDDY: It didn’t show up on Roxie’s audio, weirdly enough, and it definitely isn’t Scheherazade’s voice, so we’re really not sure what this is. 

ROXIE: Okay, bye!

[Goes back to some of the footage just of the staircase and Rose’s voice over resumes.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: We all listened to the voice a few times, but none of us were able to work out exactly what was being said. I do want to note, though, that both times we were able to get interaction was when asking if someone was there who was not May Clue, which leads me to wonder if we could perhaps be wrong in our assumption about who is haunting this part of the hotel.

[Footage of staircase fades to black. The words A PHOTO OF A GHOST: PRODUCED BY THE MCKITTRICK UNIVERSITY TV PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT appear in white as quiet music plays.]




[Twitter]

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

Hi everyone! Here’s episode three of our halloween series, A Photo of a Ghost. No spoilers, but feel free to post what you hear at the end! Remember, final episode is up tomorrow!

Responses:

**Roxie Usher** @allsoul

I need it to be public knowledge that we had to cut almost all of the footage looking down the stairs, because apparently that angle is ugly and also incredibly creepy looking. Being the only freshman is difficult lol

**Scheherazade** @thecouldhavebeenqueen

I didn’t want to say anything at the time...but yeah.

**Samantha Reno** @spookysam

Wow, that’s so creepy! My girlfriend and I thought it sort of sounded like ‘i’m here’? Something here, anyway. Can’t wait for the last episode!

**Mike Sheldon** @localemo

I thought it said cold beer so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯




“Hey,” Eddy tossed Scheherazade a water bottle which she caught easily, clearly well-practiced. “How’d it go with Roxie?”

“Good.” Scheherazade opened the water bottle and took a long drink. “I let her take the lead and she did really well.”

“Cool.” He looked over at Rose and David, who were very pointedly not looking at one another. “Anything exciting happen?”

“A bit with the flashlights.” Rose told him. “We’ll have to listen back to the audio for any voices though. Anyway, I wasn’t exactly sure where we should hang out for the maid? She’s sort of all over. But Pearl gave me a list of areas, and one that was mentioned a lot was by the linen closet on the seventh floor. I was thinking we could hang out in the hallway near that for a while?”

“That’s a good idea,” Scheherezade said, tucking her water bottle into her messenger bag. “She also said one of the claims is that people’s rooms will be cleaned without anyone actually having done so, right? I was thinking maybe we should mess up our room a bit before we leave. You know, unmake the bed, maybe leave a few towles on the floor? See if anything has changed when we get back.”

“That’s sort of brilliant.” Eddy said, and Scheherazade smiled. “We can get a few shots in here before we go too then. 

“Everyone good with that plan?” Scheherazade asked, nodding when they all made a noise of agreement. “Let’s get going then.”




[Episode begins with a black and white image of a hallway of the Bushwick Starr Hotel while the sound of a door creaking plays. White text reading “A Photo of a Ghost: Episode 3” appears briefly before fading away.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: The last story at the Bushwick Starr Hotel that we will be investigating is the maid that appears to both guests and employees. This maid has never been identified, although almost everyone who sees her gives the same description. Because the maid is seen all over the hotel, we have chosen to focus on the seventh floor hallway, where there is a linen closet that we were told she often appears by. 

[Scene changes to pan around the bedroom, now thoroughly lived-in looking due to the efforts of Eddy, Rose, David, and Scheherazade.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: Because one of the claims is that a room will be cleaned up seemingly on its own, we decided to make one of the rooms we were using as our headquarters look like someone has used it. We will check back in when we’re done and see if anything changed. 

[All four of them sit on the floor in the hotel hallway, the door to the closet a few feet away propped open using what looks like Scheherazade’s messenger bag. Farther down the hallway, you can see one of their cameras propped up on a tripod, catching the entire hallway. Rose and David are mid conversation.]

ROSE RED: Pearl said this hallway is pretty empty tonight, so hopefully nobody will run into us or mess up our audio.

DAVID: That’s good, we don’t need another possible-door-slamming, possible-serial-killer moment.

[Rose laughs and David keeps smiling at her, even when she looks away to properly begin.]

ROSE RED: I think the best course of action here would be to begin with trying an evp session? See if we can get any responses. Is that okay with you?

DAVID: Of course, do you want to start.

ROSE RED: Okay. [She takes a deep breath.] Hello? If there’s anyone here with us, can you please give us some sort of sign to know that you’re here?

[Silence.]

ROSE RED: Maybe a knock or something? It doesn’t have to be terribly complicated, don’t worry. Anything would work.

[Nothing happens again, so Rose moves on.]

ROSE RED: That’s okay. Feel free to answer at any point you might be ready. David, do you want to ask the next question?

DAVID: Sure. Uh, we’ve struggled to find out exactly who you are. Could you tell us your name?

[Somewhere in the hotel, a door opens and they can hear someone talking.]

ROSE RED, ANNOYED: That’s definitely someone one a different floor.

SCHEHERAZADE, OFF CAMERA: I’ll write down the timestamp so we know what it is.

ROSE RED: Thanks. Uh, are you the woman who sometimes helps people around the hotel?

[They wait again for a response. At first nothing happens, but then there’s a knock from somewhere down the hallway. Camera changes to Eddy’s, which is pointing in the same direction that the knock came from. However, there is nothing there. Back to Scheherazade’s camera. Rose and David exchange a look, Rose smiling widely.]

ROSE RED: Thank you so much. Can you please do that again?

[They wait, and sure enough, there’s another knock from down the hallway.]

DAVID: Holy shit.

ROSE RED: That’s directly responding to what we’re saying, right?

DAVID: I mean, I think so. Should we ask more questions? While this is happening?

ROSE RED: Yeah, go ahead.

DAVID: Did you used to live in the hotel?

[It switches back to Eddy’s camera, looking in the direction that both knocks had come from. The light is on in one room, light flooding out into the hallway under the door, but other than that, the hallway is dark and quiet.]

ROSE RED: Did you work here?

[Almost immediately, there’s another knock. The video stays with the camera facing down the hallway for a few seconds, but when nothing moves, it switches back to the one filming David and Rose.]

DAVID, QUIETLY: Have you noticed that only you are able to get responses?

ROSE, STILL LOOKING DOWN THE HALLWAY IN THE DIRECTION OF THE NOISE: What?

DAVID: With the flashlight and all times here. Every possible response has been to something you said.

ROSE: Oh. [SHRUGS] That happens sometimes. If the person we’re talking to is a woman, May Clue or the maid maybe, she may be more comfortable with me. [SHE SMILES, TEASINGLY] Jealous?

[David laughs, looking more relieved that he’s not the one making friends with a ghost than anything else.]

DAVID: No, I’m good actually. Can I ask a question though?

ROSE RED: Yeah totally! Go ahead.

DAVID: Were you also with us in the bedroom earlier?

[They wait, but David’s observation holds true and nothing happens. Both appear disappointed, but ultimately not surprised.]

ROSE RED: Let’s try something new. Do you see this? 

[She points at the recorder pinned to her jacket.]

ROSE RED: What you’re doing now is really great and really helpful, but for our next questions, can you try speaking into this? It might be able to hear you even if we can’t. Can you tell us your name?

[They wait for what seems like an appropriate amount of time, before Rose asks another question.]

ROSE RED: Why are you around this closet so much? Did you use it when you worked here?

[For this question they wait a little bit longer in order to accommodate a lengthier response.]

ROSE RED, TO DAVID: Do you have any questions you want to ask?

DAVID: Can you tell us why you’ve stayed at the hotel for so long?

[Both David and Rose wait patiently, although it’s obvious that David at least doesn’t expect much from it.]

ROSE RED: If you don’t have any other questions, I’m good to close out.

[David nods.]

ROSE RED: Thank you so much for letting us talk to you! We really appreciated it.

DAVID: Yeah, thanks.

ROSE RED, NOW TO SCHEHERAZADE AND EDDY: I was thinking we should probably give a little while longer for the room to see if anything happens. Do you want to go to one of the other rooms and try to listen back to the audio from the EVP session? We can see if we picked anything up. 

EDDY, OFF CAMERA: Sounds good to me. I’ll text Roxie.

[Camera shifts sideways, and then goes to black.]




[TV PRODUCTION MIDTERM GROUP CHAT + ROSE AND DAVID]

Eddy: hey Roxie? You’ve got the good headphones with your laptop, right?

Roxie: ye why?

Eddy: We’re going to come up and go over the audio real quick. Cool?

Roxie:  👍




Roxie opened the door as soon as they knocked, looking shockingly awake for someone who didn’t need to be working after midnight. “Hey! I got my laptop all set up if one of you wants to get the audio files on.”

“I’ll do it.” Scheherazade got to work quickly at the desk as the rest took up various positions around the room. 

“How did your investigation go?” Roxie asked, sitting next to Rose on the bed as Eddy flipped through the channels on the TV, the volume turned down low enough not to bother Scheherazade. “You were in the hallway, right?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, it was good! We were able to get some responses to my questions. Knocking, mostly. We’re trying to see now if we picked up any voices though.”

“About that,” Scheherazade leaned back to join in their conversation. “Rose, can you take a look at this for me?”

“Sure,” Rose got up and came over. “What’s up?”

“I’m just listening to the audio directly around the questions so this will be fast.” She told her, handing over Roxie’s bulky headphones. “Listen to this. It’s right after you asked for a name.”

Rose put on the headphones and Scheherazade hit play on the laptop. The audio was the tiniest bit staticky, but she could clearly hear her own voice. Then, something else. 

Rose frowned. “Can you play that again?”

“Yeah,” Scheherazade clicked a few times on the settings. “I turned up the volume on it too.”

She pressed the headphones closer around her ears, trying to listen as best she could. Her own voice played again, and then the answer. She took off the headphones. “I definitely think that’s a voice, right? It’s short though, and I’m not sure what it’s saying.”

“It sounds like it could be a name though, right?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, it could be.”

“Can I listen?” Eddy asked, and she passed him the headphones. “Oh, shit, that’s definitely a voice.”

He passed the headphones to Roxie, who then passed them to David.

“Any guesses on what’s being said?” Scheherazade asked once they had all listened. 

“I thought it sounded like ‘girl.’” David said. “Which isn’t a name, but?

“Hm.” Scheherazade put the headphones back on and played it again for herself. “It does sound like a woman’s voice. And I can definitely see why you would say girl, but I’m really not sure…” She set the headphones down on the desk and closed her laptop. “That was all I could find for now, but we can listen to all of it back over later when we’re in less of a rush. And we can get Sar and Starchild’s input on that one voice.”

“Do you think we’ve waited long enough to go back? Eddy asked Rose, having finally settled on some animal documentary. “Look, penguins.”

They were all momentarily distracted for long enough to watch a penguin slide across the screen and into the water. 

“Yeah, probably.” Rose answered as the penguin swam over to another ice cap. “I just wanted to give it a few minutes in case she was with us.”

The four of them gathered up their stuff, Scheherazade thanking Roxie for lending her her laptop. 

“No problem.” Roxie pushed at Eddy until he slid off her bed. “Now go away, I want to watch this in peace.”

He stuck his tongue out and she stuck hers out back, and Scheherazade pretended she wasn’t looking from where she, David, and Rose stood in the doorway, ready to leave. “Eddy.”

“Coming!”




[The video returns to footage of the hallway near the linen closet, and Rose’s narration resumes.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: Unfortunately, our experiment wasn’t particularly successful, and when we returned to the room we found that nothing had changed. Of course, this was sort of a longshot; there wasn’t a specific room that the maid regularly cleaned which made it difficult to really set anything up. Still, we were excited with the audio evidence we were able to find. 

[The footage from earlier plays of the four of them in the hallway, with the audio Scheherazade had examined playing on top of it. The unexplained voice is repeated twice. Scheherazade’s observation from earlier was correct; it did sound like a young woman although it was difficult to make out what she was saying.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: This was the only voice we were able to record, although we did also hear what sounded like whistling coming from a floor above around the same time. However, that is unfortunately another noise that we cannot rule out having come from patrons of the hotel. After all of us listened to the voice we had recorded, the closest idea we had of what it said remained “girl.” However, as we got ready to leave the next morning, something happened that added some additional insight.

[Suddenly we’re back in the hotel lobby. It’s morning now, and there are more people around than had been seen in the hotel thus far. The footage appears to be coming from someone’s phone. Eddy and Starchild are leaning against the wall, Eddy drinking coffee and Starchild typing away on her phone. Eddy makes eye contact with whomever is filming.]

EDDY: What’s up?

ROXIE, OFF CAMERA: Nothing. I’m bored. Can I have your coffee?

[Eddy moves further away from her, nearly running into Starchild.]

EDDY: Uh, I think the fuck not.

STARCHILD: I can go get you one, if you want?

ROXIE: No, don’t worry about it! [TO EDDY] See? She’s nice. You could learn.

[In the background, Rose and Scheherazade are talking to Mr. Usher, who still doesn’t seem particularly thrilled that they are there.]

ROSE RED, IN THE BACKGROUND: Again, thank you so much for letting us film here. We all really appreciate it. 

USHER, LOOKING LIKE HE SORT OF WISHES HE HADN’T SHOWN UP THIS MORNING: Uh huh.

SCHEHERAZADE: Is Pearl in? We were hoping we could thank her too for showing us around before we leave.

USHER, LOOKING SORT OF DEAD INSIDE: Who?

EDDY, TO ROXIE AND STARCHILD: Do you think-

[Starchild and Roxie both immediately shush him, watching the conversation unfolding behind them. Roxie zooms in slightly.]

SCHEHERAZADE: Pearl? She helped show us the different areas of the hotel yesterday evening?

[Mr. Usher still seems confused. Rose and Scheherazade exchange a look.]

USHER: I have no idea who you’re talking about.

SCHEHERAZADE, TO ROSE: Her last name was White, right? Pearl White. 

[Rose nods, but Mr. Usher just rolls his eyes.]

USHER: I think I would know if I had an employee named Pearl White. I have no idea who you thought you were talking to, but it wasn’t one of our people.

ROSE RED: She was working at the front desk when we came in. Maybe we misremembered her name? She had really long hair, like light brown-ish. Sort of quiet, never really looked quite at us.

[Mr. Usher narrowed his eyes at her for a second before rolling his eyes again.]

USHER: Oh. I get it. Funny. 

SCHEHERAZADE: Excuse me?

USHER: Where’s you find the descriptions of the ghost maid everyone can’t stop talking about? The internet? It was a nice touch, I’ll give you that.

ROSE: I don’t-

USHER: It’s a clever joke, really, but I’ve got actual work to do. Hope your project turns out okay, although no offense, but I hope that nobody ever sees it because the last thing I need is more people coming through here looking for something that doesn’t exist. Have a safe trip back.

[He leaves, not even giving the two of them the chance to respond. Not that either of them would have had much coherent to say; both look absolutely and thoroughly shocked by what just occurred. Roxie zooms back out on her phone so you can see Starchild and Eddy again, both of whom look just as baffled by what had happened.]

EDDY: What the fuck?

[Filming stops.]




[They are now in Eddy’s truck, still filming from someone’s phone as Eddy navigates the traffic-filled street outside the hotel. Scheherazade, sitting in the passenger seat, is mostly turned around facing the back and messing with the camera.]

SCHEHERAZADE: I just? Don’t get it? I legitimately don’t get it.

SAR, OFF CAMERA: Usher was probably fucking with you guys. He’s a dick.

SCHEHERAZADE: But why would he? He didn’t  _ want  _ us to find anything. I was shocked he let us come at all. 

ROSE RED, SITTING CRAMMED IN THE MIDDLE ROW WITH DAVID AND ROXIE: I don’t think he was trying to mess with us. He seemed legitimately to have no clue what we were talking about. 

EDDY, CHANGING LANES: Can you find the footage?

SCHEHERAZADE: One second...Yeah. It’s all here, look.

[She turns the camera around and the rest of them can see where the footage from the initial interview with Pearl is playing.]

SAR, OFF CAMERA: What, did you think we mass hallucinated her or something? I’m not buying it.

STARCHILD, ALSO OFF CAMERA: Really, Sar, I don’t think he had any idea who she was. And he’s a dick, yeah, but I don’t think he’s bad at his job. I’m sure he knows who works for him.

ROSE, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING ON HER PHONE: I’m trying to find the descriptions he was talking about. I’ve seen a few on different forums that do sort of match what we said, but…

[She trails off, still looking at her phone.]

DAVID: Rose? Are you okay?

[She wordlessly passes him the phone.]

DAVID: Wow…

ROXIE: What is it?

ROSE: Someone who saw the maid drew her, and, well.

[She turns the phone around so that the rest of them can see.]

ROXIE: Holy shit.

STARCHILD, QUIETLY: That’s Pearl.




[The video from the car fades out, replaced by an image of the outside of the hotel, with the music from the first episode softly playing in the background.]

ROSE RED, VOICE OVER: From what we can piece together, we think the maid - Pearl - followed us around for most of the night. We had a possible experience in the ballroom that indicated someone other than Neil Borhe may have been with us, and that is definitely what I believe was communicated when we were trying to talk to May Clue. And of course, we had the most activity overall while trying specifically to talk to the maid. And, of course, what we eventually found out from Mr. Usher speaks for itself.

[Switches to footage from the interview with Pearl that hadn’t been in the earlier episodes.]

SAR, OFF CAMERA: How’d you end up working here?

PEARL, SITTING TOWARDS THE EDGE OF THE FRAME, HER HAIR OBSCURING ONE SIDE OF HER FACE ALMOST ENTIRELY, BUT THE OTHER COLD BE SEEN CLEARLY: Oh, I hardly even remember these days. I think it was just convenient. And how could I leave?

SAR, OFF CAMERA: Have you been here long?

PEARL: Oh, years. Feels like forever almost.

[Image changes to the drawing Rose had found. It does look remarkably like Pearl, the same hair that obscured half her face even as she constantly pushed it away and the same almost washed-out look to her.]

ROSE, VOICE OVER: I can’t speak to the more sensationalist stories about the Bushwick Starr hotel. We were never able to with any certainty make contact with Neil Borhe or May Clue. It’s in the less dramatic ghost stories that we can find more surety. Maybe an unidentified woman who helps people isn’t as exciting, but clearly Pearl wishes to reach out, and I am so happy that we were able to help her finally be seen.

[The image fades to black as the music winds down to a finish. White texts appears, reading as follows:

A PHOTO OF A GHOST: PRODUCED BY THE MCKITTRICK UNIVERSITY TV PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT. 

With Rose Red and David. 

Current TV Production Crew:

President: Scheherazade

Senior Members: Scheherazade, Edgar Usher II

Junior Members: Sarajevo Rose

Sophomore Members: Starchild Ashford

Freshmen Members: Roxanne Usher

Thank you so much to Mr. Usher and the Bushwick Starr Hotel for allowing us to film and conduct our investigation there.]




[Twitter]

**McKittrick University TV Production** @mu_tv

It’s finally here! This episode concludes our halloween series, A Photo of a Ghost. Thank you so much to @thesameofeveryoneelse and @intheabstract for joining us this year, and thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with this project. We hope the conclusion is everything you’ve ever wished it could be. Happy Halloween!

Responses:

**Rose Red** @thesameaseveryoneelse

oh my god i have never been more stressed in my life

**Eddy Usher** @thefoolishcellist

Bro I just watched Scheherazade post this and I’m pretty sure her hands were literally shaking

**Scheherazade** @thecouldhavebeenqueen

Why would you share this on the internet?

**Mike Sheldon** @localemo

the ‘she was dead all along’ trope. we love to see it

**Aidan Wood** @swmrlife

I don’t get it

**Mike Sheldon** @localemo

It’s a common horror trope. Basically we’re looking for the ghost this whole time when it turns out we already met them.

**Aidan Wood** @swmrlife

So you don’t think it’s real?

**Mike Sheldon** @localemo

Lmao no it was totally scripted

**Beatrice Allen** @honeybea

**👀** wow. That ending. Creepy! 

**Carolyn Williams** @tmwrptrio

I didn’t like this from the beginning but glad to see that the tv production program supports lying on the internet now. This is embarrassing. 




[Email to McKittrick TV Production Team from Professor Tippe, head of the Film and TV Department.]

Hello all,

Thank you for such a creative approach to the midterm project this year. It was very entertaining. You did an excellent job of parodying the genre, although I did feel that the ending was a bit too on the nose and took more of a dive into fictional horror than docu-type paranormal TV. Both the editing and the creative choices in the earlier episodes were more on target in that aspect. 

Overall, your technique was of high quality. There were a few issues that I’ve noted the timestamp of, but they were sparse. 

Please see my attachments for individual comments, but overall you were very successful.

Grade: A-

Professor Tippe




[A few weeks later]

Rose Red sat at the desk in her dorm working on her photo album. Every few seconds she glanced at where her phone sat on top of a purple suitcase, looking simultaneously disappointed and relieved when nothing was there. 

The door abruptly opened, her roommate Natasha hurrying in to grab her bag. “Good morning!” She said cheerily. “Your dress is so pretty!”

Rose glanced down at her dress, which was a lot too fancy for just going home for the holiday break. “Thanks. Are you heading out?”

“Yeah.” Natasha grabbed her pillow off her bed, struggling for a second before getting it firmly tucked under her arm. “My cousin just texted that she’s here. Are you leaving soon?”

Rose’s hand itched to reach for her phone again, but she didn’t let herself. “Soon, I hope.”

“Cool.” Natasha looked around the room one last time. “Well, that’s everything. Happy Thanksgiving! See you in a week.”

“Yeah, happy thanksgiving.” As Natasha left, Rose flipped to a new page in her photo album, taking a purple pen and carefully writing ‘Bushwick Starr Hotel’ across the top. She had a number of photographs from the hotel she wanted to include, ones of the exterior, ones of the inside sites, and ones of the TV Production crew - her friends. 

The most important one was at the bottom of the pile, and she carefully pulled it out.

It was a picture before they even began the investigation, taken in the lobby while they had still been conducting the initial interviews. Roxie had actually been the one to take it, leaning as far to the side as she could to still be in frame while also getting everyone else in it, making a ridiculous face. Behind Roxie, Sar had her arm thrown over Starchild’s shoulder, and Starchild was turned slightly towards her, laughing at something. Scheherazade was looking at the two of them like she was worried they were going to fall on top of her, Eddy standing on her other side and their fingers almost touching. Then Rose and David, looking awkward next to one another in a way that seemed ridiculous now. And then on the end, almost fading into the background, Pearl.

That moment almost hadn’t happened. Pearl, David, Rose, Scheherazade and Eddy were about to go start the tour of the hotel, when Roxie suddenly said that she wanted a picture of everyone together. Scheherazade had initially protested that they needed to get going, but then Starchild got on board, and it wasn’t long until everyone else agreed too. Pearl had initially offered to take it, something that Rose now sort of wondered if would have actually worked, but Roxie said no, saying she wanted her in it too because she was ‘part of the team now.’ 

Rose glued the photo into her album, careful to make it perfectly straight. She smoothed it down, and then reached for her best black pen. 

The group looked up at her as she took a deep breath, trying to hype herself up. This was it. She was finally going to have done what she had been trying to do from the moment that she first picked up a camera.

She took her black pen, and in slanted cursive, labeled the picture ‘A Photo of a Ghost’. 

Almost as soon as she set her pen down, ridiculously out of breath, her phone buzzed. 

The group chat that she and David were in along with the TV production team had been active ever since their series premiered and they got their grade back, and she was worried for a second that it was just that, but she worried for nothing. 

David: Hey! I’m here :)

Rose quickly stashed her photo album back into her backpack, checking her hair one more time in the mirror. She smiled at her reflection, nerves making it a bit more shaky than she would have liked. She could imagine David waiting downstairs, in his shitty car with all the windows down because the air conditioning had broken again and it was unseasonable warm for mid-November, also a bit overdressed to be going home for break, and probably holding a flower that she knew he had gotten because he’s texted her late the night before frantically making sure she wasn’t allergic. 

She grabbed her bags, and before she left, she quickly texted David back.

Rose: down in a sec! 

And then Rose Red - ghost hunter, the bane of the photography department, and the newly found friend of six whole people - was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. there's like. five gq easter eggs? i think lmao. and a comet reference but that's pretty obvious.  
> 2\. thank you sm for getting to the end of the most absurd thing i have ever written (which is saying something bc i write a lot of stupid shit)!!! i hope you like The Squad despite them having zero basis is cannon bc now i love them. also thanks for dealing with the weird formatting of all of this? last year i watched american vandal and decided to throw out the entire normal form this was in originally and make it a film project.  
> 3\. i have never been to a waffle house nor do i have a twitter, so sorry if that isn't totally accurate. i have, however, watched a ridiculous amount of ghost hunters, so hopefully we're at least good in that aspect.  
> 4\. tumblr is @lesbianelizabethfrankenstein if you want to be friends!! also thank you sm for reading and happy halloween! <3


End file.
